Seven

Chapter 41

When I finish at the bottle store I walk the block down the road to my car. I don't park it near the bottle store so Jeremy doesn't see it and ask me questions like,

"How on earth did you bag a car like that on minimum wage?!"

Or

"Jesus Lily did you win lotto and not tell me?"

Or, my favourite and the most likely question he'd ask,

"Where'd you steal that from?"

It's quite warm this afternoon, the sun is late setting and is still yet to hide behind the skyscrapers in the city. As always, I'm on high alert while walking. Checking for any black sedans, or hooligans like those boys who came to the store that time. But there's nothing. In fact I've been lucky with how quiet and unproblematic my life has been the last wee while.

When I get home I stare at the dusty boxes stacked in the corner and sigh. I know I need to start going through them, I've been putting it off for long enough. I finally think I'm ready emotionally for one box at a time at least.

I head to the kitchen and pull out a pair of scissors to cut the tape from the top of the boxes. I look at them for a moment, mentally preparing myself before taking the sharp scissors to the top box. The smell hits me immediately, floral scented roses with a strong lavender note and my eyes prick with tears. It's her smell. And for a moment it's like my Grandmother is with me in the room.

I gasp through the sobs wanting to rip from my chest and furiously wipe away the tears pooling in my eyes to open up the folded top of the box. A purple flowered dress lays at the top, it's soft to touch and I lift it and bury my face in the nostalgic scent it holds. Taking in deep breaths of her lingering smell, I bring the dress out of the box and set it down on my small couch and turn back for another item. There is all sorts in this particular box. A few more dresses, a woolly cardigan, gardening magazines, recipes cut from various magazines or books that are stuffed into a clear plastic sleeve. When I get deeper in the box a few more random items come into view. A large, old looking brown book that I notice is a photo album when I pull it from the bottom. It's very dusty and I place it on the ground beside me to collect the rest of the things from the box. Something is wrapped in news paper and when I unfold it it reveals a crystal flower ornament, a Lily. My tears well again remembering how happy my grandmother was when I got this for her one Christmas. She treasured it ever since so I find a home for the delicate keepsake on my shelf with my books.

Going back to the unpacking there's a small colourful wooden box at the very bottom and I retrieve it. The lid design is beautiful and I run my fingers over it to wipe off the dust. I don't recognise it at all, the lid looks to be hand painted. A teal background with a gold boarder, marigold flowers and two swallows are printed on the front. I know them to be swallows as they're similar to the ones inked on Seven's chest.

Curiously I open the box, teal velvet lines the inside and I realise this is a jewellery box. What catches my eyes first are a pair of thick, gold half hopped earrings. I pick one out to inspect it and notice the three tiny diamonds embedded down the front of the hoop. Next is a diamond tennis bracelet, the middle stone a polished carbonado. A matching gold and carbonado stone ring set on a thin band. A thicker, much larger gold band that looks more suited for a males finger although it too has a very tiny carbonado stone in the middle of it. I realise the two rings are a matching his and hers as I look over the box more closely, it's then that I see it. I hadn't noticed it before because it is so small. But engraved in a perfect cursive print on the very lip of the lid is my mother's name.